ALBANY 3, CHARLOTTE 0
Rookie Adam Henrique tallied a pair of goals and Dave Caruso made 37 saves for his first shutout of the season as Albany concluded its three-game visit to Charlotte with a 3-0 victory over the Checkers on Tuesday at the Time Warner Cable Arena.
The Devils headed into this contest having collected a 4-3 overtime victory over the Checkers on Saturday – with Henrique tallying the game-winner – but coming off a 3-2 loss on Sunday afternoon.
After a scoreless opening period, Henrique nabbed his 15th and 16th goal of the season in the second period for Albany, with 2011 AHL All-Star forward Matt Anderson assisting on both markers.
It marked Henrique’s second multiple-goal game of the season and his first in exactly a month. The 21-year-old scored twice on Jan. 15 vs. Springfield.
Brad Mills tacked on a late third-period insurance goal for the Devils, who took two of three from the Checkers this week and reached the 20-win plateau for the season at 20-29-0-3.
Charlotte saw its five-game points streak (4-0-1-0) come to an end, as the Checkers suffered their first regulation loss since a 1-0 decision at Hershey on Jan. 29 in the final game prior to the AHL All-Star break.
The Checkers will begin a four-game road trip with weekend tilts at Binghamton, Adirondack, and Hershey.
HERSHEY 2, NORFOLK 1
Keith Aucoin nabbed the decisive goal late in the second period as Hershey got back on the winning track with a 2-1 road victory over Norfolk on Tuesday at the Scope.
With the game deadlocked at 1-1, Aucoin notched his 15th goal of the season at 19:42 of the second period. Dylan Yeo and Kyle Greentree picked up assists on the goal, which turned out to be Aucoin’s sixth game-winner out of 15 total tallies on the campaign (15-40-55).
The six game-winners are now tied for most in the AHL along with Oklahoma City’s Alexandre Giroux, Binghamton’s Bobby Butler, and Providence’s Maxime Sauve.
Defenseman Sean Collins initially gave Hershey a 1-0 lead at 14:12 of the opening period – with Yeo also earning an assist – but Admirals forward Mike Angelidis tied it up midway through the second frame.
Bears goaltender Todd Ford turned aside 29 shots to preserve the victory in net, moving to 5-2-1 in nine AHL appearances this season.
Hershey halted a brief two-game losing skid and pulled back within eight points of first-place Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the East Division race. The Admirals saw a two-game winning streak end and will battle those front-running Penguins in a two-game set at home this coming weekend.
TORONTO 2, MANITOBA 1
Matt Caruana’s early third-period goal stood up to be the game-winner as Toronto edged host Manitoba by a 2-1 count on Tuesday in the opener of a two-game set at the MTS Centre.
Caruana notched his fourth goal of the season 3:31 into the final frame, snapping a 1-1 deadlock and sending the Marlies on their way to halting a two-game losing skid. Making his Marlies debut, Aaron Voros picked up an assist on the game-winner, and Danny Richmond earned the other helper.
Justin Hodgman gave the Marlies a 1-0 lead at 7:18 of the opening period, but Guillaume Desbiens pulled Manitoba even with a shorthanded tally less than three minutes later.
Toronto rookie goaltender Ben Scrivens preserved the victory in net, finishing with 34 saves on 35 shots.
The teams will meet again on Wednesday night in Winnipeg.
